All Posts by Roadshow

The problem is not the auto function, but the complete lack of skills, or rather the lack of any need to use them.

You didn't try playing as an engineer or even a biotech then. No escaping from skill use there. This isn't a flaw in the game, it's you not liking it.

There is nothing wrong with shooting anyhow, I'd be damned disappointed if I bought a game based on a battlefield which didn't have shooting. But shooting to the exclusion of using skills is a choice; the skill points are there for you to allocate as you please.

It is perfectly possible to make effective use of the skills available, but often it is a learning process to discover how best to use them. In fact using different tier levels of the same skill can be used to devastating effect as each tier may have subtle differences in it's effects. A good example of this is the biotech skill reconstruction which at first glance is an aoe heal. However at tier 2 it also drops an affected enemy's spirit points and at tier 3 his body (hit points); if you use tier 3 and then follow up with tier 2 whilst the first attack is still functioning, the results are BIG.

The game may at first appear simplistic but, like a swan gliding across a pond, it's got a lot going on beneath the surface. If you don't look, you won't find.

There is a lot of hate thrown at TR but I really do wonder if many of these people have played it.

It isn't a game for everyone but it is terrifically playable, involving and above all fun.

In it's first few months it has garnered around 150,000 subscribers which is on a par with City Of Heroes which took around 6 months to hit 180,000. LOTRO which has had almost a year to grow, has only 200,000 or thereabouts. TR may not be the new WOW but it is performing on a par with the majority of it's rivals.

With a Japanese release later in the year and NCSoft hinting at a game-pass subscription allowing access to their whole raft of games, it seems pretty unlikely that TR will be canned any time soon.

The only reason it's future is in question is that NCSoft killed off AutoAssault when it was still pulling in tens of thousands of subscribers. Having played both there really is no comparison between the two.

I liked Auto Assault but it was a game which literally came to a dead end as you levelled. TR on the other hand seems ripe for new world expansions and an ever-broadening storyline. It is also a much more finessed and higher quality product than AA.

I believe that whilst it's birth has been a relatively low-key affair, it's core gameplay is of such high quality that  like EVE it will be a slow burner which grows and grows. Certainly having spent a few months in it's free flowing and changing world, I could never envisage going back to a cookie-cutter mmo again. Provided NCSoft keep the faith, TR may still become a long-term hit.

Originally posted by Leoj

I couldn't stick to this game...whoever said it was a grind is correct.  You might be doing quests...but every quest is kill 100 of those monsters over there.  I also had no expectations to this game, I wasn't even checking it out till after it came out and just said what the hell...  I didn't even make it a month and I didn't get that far and I did hear a lot of people say it gets more fun later in the game.  But for me,  I was too bored to make it that far.  I also really like sci-fi, so its not that either, just not my type of game I guess.  I like fps style combat...and this game seemed less twitchy than WoW to me.  So I guess it just depends what your into.

I realise that arguing on the internet is as much use as punching myself in the face, but there are 0 kill 100 x missions in tabula rasa aside from the 'targets of opportunity' missions to earn clone credits. And ToO missions complete themselves whilst you are running around doing other missions.

There are collect 8 of these or 5 of those style missions in which by default you have to kill the monsters from whose loot tables the items drop, but nothing like what you suggest. The vast majority of missions are story-led. Compared to my last mmorpg's, Vanguard and LOTRO, TR is a free-flowing walk in the park.

By all means hate the game, but for the sake of the original posters question, lets not misrepresent it.

Originally posted by Tenebrion

The game is a grind, pure and simple.

There are missions enough to get you to L30+ at least without having any need to grind. The only possible reason for grinding might be, as the previous poster points out, to achieve the objectives of the 'targets of opportunity' (ToO) missions and these can usually be fulfilled just by doing the missions in a zone. Where that is not the case eg Nitroglazers in Plains, the ToO can be achieved by joining a team participating in control point offence/defence.

Ultimately, as with any rpg game, you get out what you put in. If you choose to avoid the game's story driven content in a pointless rush for the level cap as has become the norm in WOW, then Tabula Rasa will not be for you.

Tabula Rasa is tremendous fun provided it's genre and play-style are to your liking. Those who like swords and sorcery are never going to succumb to it's charms, nor those who are hoping for a twitcher-style fps. Give it a chance though and it's epic storyline, visceral combat and great instances may sweep you along.

Despite a lot of moans about it being buggy, even before last weeks patch it was possible to level past 25/50 before coming across a bugged mission. After the patch you can go a good deal higher. Those who have rushed to L50 have groaned about end-game content but with only two updates so far since release and another due toward the end of this month, it is still very early days in the game's evolution.

Personally I think NCSoft have shot themselves in the foot somewhat by limiting the game's trial to 3 days. Most people in that time will barely reach the instances in the first region, the Wilderness, and whilst the Wilderness gives a great taste of what is to follow, the game doesn't fully start to blossom until the subsequent regions Divide and Palisades.

The game isn't without it's flaws, but it is off to a good start and hopefully will build upon it's already strong foundations.

WOWs emotes are good fun but it is insane to suggest that overall character animation is better than that in any number of other games. In terms of fluid combat animation I think you would be hard pressed to better that in COH/COV but if it is bettered, it sure isn't by WOW.

LOTRO's combat animations are adequate (certainly better than those in EQ2 and on a par with those in Vanguard) but I am disappointed by the skeletons beneath it's skins which, again by comparison with COH/COV are stiff and inflexible. This is particularly annoying when equipped with a cape as it makes your avatar appear hunch-backed.

If you are a WOW fanboy, at least back up your argument with something approximating knowledge of the alternatives.